Senior Digital Transformation Consultant

## Senior Digital Transformation Consultant - Organization:ISA - International Seabed Authority - Office:ISA HQ Kingston Result of Service:Purpose of Assignment: Reporting to the Chef de Cabinet and working in close coordination with the Senior Adviser on Strategic Initiatives and External Relations in EOSG and relevant offices of the Secretariat, the Consultant shall provide senior strategic leadership, advice and client-side oversight during Phase 0 and Phase I of the website transformation programme, working closely with designated in-house ISA project management support. The Consultant will act as the principal bridge between organizational leadership, internal business and technical teams, external stakeholders and the appointed digital agency. The Consultant will help ensure that:institutional priorities are translated into clear digital requirements;agency recommendations are appropriately challenged and validated to ensure they are fit for purpose;decisions are made at the correct level and recorded;stakeholder engagement is representative and productive;dependencies, risks, and scope decisions are identified early;Phase 0 and Phase I outputs are sufficiently detailed to support design, development, procurement, budgeting, and resource mobilization;the organization retains ownership of its strategy, data, knowledge architecture, and future digital roadmap. Detailed scope of Work: 1. Agency Selection and Mobilization Support the selection and successful mobilization of the website agency by providing independent technical and strategic advice throughout the procurement process. This includes reviewing proposals submitted under the website redesign RFP, supporting technical evaluation, clarifications, and due diligence as required, and assisting with the onboarding and mobilization of the selected agency to ensure a strong foundation for delivery. 2. Client-Side Agency Management The Consultant will act as the Secretariat’s strategic counterpart to the appointed agency, providing independent oversight to ensure the engagement remains aligned with agreed objectives, scope, quality, and timelines. This includes reviewing deliverables, monitoring progress, identifying risks and scope changes, facilitating informed decision-making, and advising on the completeness and quality of agency outputs. The Consultant will support effective collaboration between the Secretariat and the agency but will not manage the agency's internal team, delivery processes, or contractual obligations unless specifically delegated under agreed conditions. 3. Programme Coordination and Governance The Consultant will lead strategic coordination across Phase 0 and Phase I, working closely with the designated ISA project management support to ensure that agency and internal activities remain aligned with programme objectives and priorities. The Consultant will focus on key milestones, strategic dependencies, risks, decision points and phase gates, providing recommendations and escalation to management where required. Day-to-day project coordination, including maintaining detailed workplans, schedules and action tracking, will be led by the designated ISA project management support. 4. Strategic Direction and Alignment The Consultant will provide strategic leadership to ensure the website transformation is driven by the International Seabed Authority’s broader institutional objectives rather than treated as a standalone website redesign. This includes aligning the programme with institutional priorities, communications, knowledge management, legal and data requirements, defining the scope of the minimum viable website, distinguishing it from the wider digital ecosystem, and advising on a phased roadmap for future digital capabilities. The Consultant will provide strategic oversight and quality assurance throughout the discovery and definition phases by reviewing the agency's research, audits, recommendations and design outputs. This includes assessing user experience, content and knowledge architecture, technology, analytics, accessibility, and competitive analysis to ensure recommendations are evidence-based, feasible, and aligned with organizational priorities and user needs. The Consultant will support the definition of strategic objectives, audiences, functional and non-functional requirements, information architecture, taxonomy, content models, user journeys, and narrative strategy, ensuring that all Phase 0 and Phase I deliverables provide a robust, implementable foundation for design, development, procurement, and long-term digital governance. 5. Stakeholder Consultation and User Research The Consultant will provide strategic oversight of stakeholder consultation and user research undertaken by the agency and relevant ISA teams, helping ensure that priority stakeholder and user groups are appropriately represented and that research addresses key institutional and user needs. The Consultant will review key findings and recommendations and advise on their translation into the website strategy, information architecture, content model and user experience. The Consultant will support the presentation of significant findings and recommendations to senior management at key decision points. Detailed planning, coordination, execution and documentation of consultations and user research will be led by the agency and designated ISA personnel. 6. Governance and Decision-Making The Consultant will help translate institutional priorities into clear digital requirements, independently review and validate agency recommendations, and ensure that decisions are made at the appropriate level and properly documented. The Consultant will also support representative stakeholder engagement, identify risks, dependencies, and scope decisions early, and ensure that Phase 0 and Phase I outputs are sufficiently robust to guide design, development, procurement, budgeting, and resource mobilization, while safeguarding the organization’s ownership of its strategy, data, knowledge architecture, and long-term digital roadmap. 7. Content Management, Migration and Project Coordination The Consultant will provide strategic guidance and quality assurance on the approach to content management and migration, working with the agency and designated ISA communications and content teams to ensure alignment with the website strategy and organizational requirements. This will include advising on the overall migration approach, content governance, editorial workflows, metadata standards, multilingual requirements, approval processes and content ownership model, and reviewing key recommendations and deliverables at agreed milestones. Detailed content inventory, content creation and editing, coordination with content owners, migration tracking, redirects, CMS onboarding and day-to-day management of the content pipeline will be led by the agency and designated ISA personnel. The Consultant will also advise on the internal roles, capabilities and governance required to support sustainable content management following launch. 8. Technology, Architecture and Implementation Readiness The Consultant will provide strategic oversight and quality assurance of the website's technical approach and implementation readiness, working with the agency and ISA technical teams to ensure that the proposed solutions are aligned with organizational requirements, wider digital ecosystem, UN standards and future needs. This will include reviewing key recommendations related to CMS, architecture, search, APIs, cybersecurity, hosting, analytics and accessibility, with particular attention to major dependencies, risks, scalability, maintainability and avoidance of unnecessary duplication or vendor lock-in. Detailed technical architecture, engineering, infrastructure, security configuration, integration and implementation will remain the responsibility of the agency and designated ISA technical teams within their